A Good Side of Soggy Fries
by WitchJuliana
Summary: It's been a whole year since her death. He's a whole year older. A whole year wiser. A whole year lonelier. But it's okay. All he needs is a good chat and some fries to accompany him. Just like the good ol' days. Spoilers for Persona 3 and slight spoilers for the Arena games.
**A/N: Had this in my folders for a while now. It's pretty old, but I wanna post it anyway since Junpei was a good bro of mine in the game. If you haven't played Persona 3 or the Arena games, then beware of spoilers!**

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The paper bag in his hand rustles lightly as he walks, his free hand buried deep inside his pocket. Today's a special day for Junpei, as well as for some of the others. How they're going to spend it isn't something he knows about, or frankly, cares about it.

…Well okay, _maybe_ he cares just a little bit, but not enough to allow for their plans to clash with his. After all, nobody is going to stop him from enjoying his fries.

With no rush at all, he casually walks into a cemetery and looks around slowly, before finding the gravestone he's looking for. He remembers briefly how Mitsuru had struggled with planning for her funeral, unsure of whether her family already had a gravestone dedicated to them, or whether one existed in the first place. His senpai had discovered that, due to the costs, their leader's family didn't have one made, leaving her with the choice to have one made for her or not.

The choice was obvious, of course. And so, after the gravestone was made, they allocated a spot in the local cemetery just for her and continued on with the preparations.

The funeral seemed to drag on forever, despite it taking only so much time. At the time, he couldn't help but think about Chidori and her lack of a proper funeral. The girl he loved had been quickly prepared and cremated, leaving him with the decision of what to do with the ashes. He ended up keeping them in his room for a while, right next to her sketchbook. Eventually, he gave her a proper resting place in between the short moments of peace SEES was lucky to experience. He had been used to seeing the urn in his room, and the empty space next to the sketchbook had made him feel uneasy, strange, and a bit lonely.

When it came time to put Minako's ashes down in their resting spot, he almost reacted on impulse and tried to snatch the urn away. It didn't seem right that she was being put immediately into the ground, as if they were rushing everything and wanted to get rid of her as soon as possible. He wanted to grab the urn, hug it to his chest like he used to hug her when she was hiding away her tears from everyone else, when she was comforting him during all the hard times after Chidori's death, when they were watching scary movies and she pretended to be scared so that he could cling to her in fear. He wanted to take the urn and hide it in his room, because she couldn't be dead, she was their LEADER, their amazing, headstrong, and unbeatable leader. She wasn't supposed to be dead, and she didn't belong in the ground. She was supposed to be ALIVE and with THEM. They were supposed to graduate TOGETHER. His body had jerked forward, ready to take the urn away from the handler.

But he didn't do it. Instead, he clenched his fists and bit his lip as the tears continued to fall. He forced himself to stand back and watch them bury the urn in the ground, where there was no chance of getting her back. And just like that, the two most important girls in his life were gone in a heartbeat.

The bag crinkles in protest as he grips it hard. He blinks once, twice, before shaking his head and sitting down in front of her gravestone. His eyes glaze over the characters delicately carved into the stone, clearly stating her name, date and age of death, and whatever other information Misturu could find on her. He places the bag down and takes out a carton fries - the only thing he decided on buying at Wild-Duck Burger. It's strangely nostalgic how holding the carton of fries feels, and he almost tries to offer the food to stone in front of him.

In the end, he does offer them to the stone.

"Want some, Mina-tan?" He shakes the fries a bit, fully aware that he probably looks crazy to anyone who would be passing by. Then again, he had been through crazier shit, and this by comparison is rather tame. When no response comes, he brings the fries back to himself and begins to eat them slowly.

"You know, it's been a year since you've… passed." His words come out slowly as he tries to figure out what to say to her, chewing absentmindedly on the fries. "I guess you could say a few things have changed since then." Silence answers him, but instead, he imagines her sitting in front of him in Wild-Duck Burger, grinning and nodding along as she eats his fries in the noisy restaurant. It helps him find the words he'd been meaning to say to her for the past year, all the things he wishes he could have told her if she had stayed alive. He eats another fry before continuing.

"Mitsuru-senpai and Akihiko-senpai are in college now, and sometimes they come to visit the dorm when they're not busy. And since it's them, they're always busy and rarely come to visit. But," he pauses, thinking back to rare moments when they'd stop by for a bit, "when they do, it's always a great reunion. Of course, Mitsuru-senpai makes sure to buy the best food for everyone, and we all get to listen to their tales of college. Although, Akihiko-senpai doesn't seem keen on staying and studying. You know, how he's all punches and stuff? He might just focus on boxing again and drop his classes. But knowing Mitsuru-senpai, I don't know if he'll manage to pull that off with her around." He laughs to himself and eats another fry. Just for a bit, he wishes he could hear her laughing with him, cracking jokes about how their senpai and his obsession with becoming stronger. Of course, there was always some reasonable explanation for it, as she would always hint to, but it still came off as a little too strong (hah, he bet she'd laugh at that one) to Junpei.

"Then there's me and Yuka-tan and Fuuka-chan still in Gekkoukan, studying our asses off, _sort of_. Well, at least, Yuka-tan and Fuuka-chan are. They both want to get into college and be successful and achieve their dreams and goals and work their hardest. And me? I think I'm going to sit college out." It is so easy seeing her eyebrow go up in curiosity, masking the fact that she is concerned about where this was going. He snorts to himself and holds the fries closer to his chest, his imaginary Minako protesting in response as the fries escape her grasp. "Don't worry your pretty little head off. I still have plans, you know. I've been thinking about doing something baseball related. Maybe coach some kids, start a team, and do something I'll enjoy. I don't think I'd last long in college anyway. Remember how you'd always whisper the answers to questions to me? Yeah, without you around, my performance has been severely lacking." If she were alive, she would reach forward and flick his forehead, shaking her head and telling him to study more. Or at least, pay attention in class. Both of which he never did.

"But, that's my plan anyway. Ai-chan is still studying with us too, but, I'm not sure what's going to happen with her. I think Mitsuru-senpai is going to have her do some Shadow related stuff. I'm not too sure on that though, since Ai-chan doesn't talk much about it. She seems more focused on school. Her grades are getting better, unlike mine." He continues to eat the fries, the carton half empty as he lays it down on the paper bag. The imaginary Minako grins and eats a few fries herself, and he swears when he looks down into the carton that a few fries really did go missing. He shakes off the thought and continues his one-sided conversation, determined to tell her everything she has missed since her death.

"Ken-kun and Koromaru have been getting closer lately, since Ken-kun's the one who takes care of him most of the time while we're all drowning in schoolwork. The kid's got it easier than all of us, let me tell ya. But… he does miss you a lot. Akihiko-senpai might not admit it, but we're all pretty sure that he pops by most of the time just to check on Ken-kun. He's doing good though! He's studying hard and doing the best he can and doing anything he can to make us proud. Or rather, you proud." Junpei leans back a bit, his gaze wistful as he looks up into the sky. "You really made an impact on that kid. And us too, for that matter. …it still hurts sometimes, you know? Thinking about your death." He closes his eyes, willing the pain in his chest to well down as he takes a deep breath.

"I mean, I get what you did. I didn't get beat up by Ai-chan for nothing. But I still miss you. Just like how I miss Chidori or how Akihiko-senpai pretends to not miss Shinjirou-senpai. But then, I figured that it's okay to miss you and Chidori." He opens his eyes and smiles sadly, his mind focused on the white clouds passing by instead of the silent, imaginary girl. "I know the two of you aren't coming back, and I've long since accepted that. But I'll keep missing you two anyway, until the day when you're both nothing more than fond memories, and when my chest stops hurting when I think about you two. Hah," he laughs to himself bitterly and leans back forward, eyeing the gravestone in front of him, "you'd never imagine me to be the sappy type, huh Mina-tan?" He lazily picks up a fry and chews it slowly. The cold food tasted like cardboard in his mouth, but he keeps eating it anyway.

"But I guess anyone can be sappy, once the moment strikes them I suppose. Hmm, what else is there to say?" He taps his chin in thought before looking down at the carton of fries and realizing something. "Oh, well, there is one thing that hasn't changed since your death. These fries can still be soggy as hell, but you're not around to eat them for me anymore, so now I've gotta pick up the slack." He grins at the stone in front of him, and for a moment, he swears he can hear someone's soft giggling somewhere in the breeze. "That's it from me anyway. You've heard enough of me rambling to you, so I'm gonna take my leave here and get back to the dorm. Even if she won't admit it, Yuka-tan will be worried if I don't get home on time. Plus, Mitsuru-senpai and Akihiko-senpai are coming over to visit, so I can't miss out on that." He picks up the carton of fries and puts it back in the paper bag, before getting up and stretching himself out. The teen doesn't bother to dust himself off, and he gives a small, two-fingered salute to his deceased leader, smiling with a carefree air about him. "I'll make sure to visit more often. And I'll bring something other than fries next time too. Maybe takoyaki?" By now, the imaginary girl in his head is gone, and he's fully aware that he's talking to nothing but the ashes in the ground. The breeze brushes past him in response, and he lowers his hand and returns it to his pocket, the other holding firmly onto the paper bag.

"I hope you and Chidori are getting along up there. Tell her I said hey, would you? And uh, if she asks why I haven't visited her grave yet, it's because I haven't gotten around to it yet." He scratches his head sheepishly and laughs awkwardly. "But, I will soon. And I'll bring flowers to make up for it." He stands awkwardly in front of her grave, unable to bring himself to say good-bye. So he says the next best thing and pulls his cap over his eyes to keep from tearing up.

"Hey, keep watch over me okay? Make sure I don't make any stupid decisions or mess up any more worse than I do now. You'll still be the best friend I depended on the most, even if you're not here anymore." His voice cracks slightly, but he grins in spite of it all. He'll be happy, for her, for Chidori, for himself. He straightens his cap so it doesn't hide his eyes from her grave. Even now, she deserves to see himself as he is. There's no sense in trying to hide his feelings around her anymore. He walks away from the grave, waving back as though he was going to meet her later at the dorm.

"See ya, Minako."

 _We'll meet up again, someday._


End file.
